Temple Staff Resorts to Strike

CHENNAI, INDIA, December 8, 2000: Normal activity in more than 36,000 temples in Tamil Nadu, India's southern-most state, was interrupted as temple employees went on a day's stay-in strike in support of their 15-point charter of demands. They are asking for pay parity with other temple staff, pension and other benefits. According to official sources, the strike was near-total success with about 80 percent of the employees participating. Pay for temple employees is fixed on the basis of revenue of the temples. The result of this in many small temples is that priests and employees are getting a pay of less than US$2.00 a month. Even this meagre salary is not paid regularly, according to employees. The normal pujas of the day were still conducted by all priests, but special requests for archana were not available.